Report urges time as remedy for Anglican disagreements

cody.lowe@roanoke.com 981-3425

"Communion" is a potent word among Christians, with several meanings.

As "Holy Communion," it denotes the Eucharist or Lord's Supper. The "communion of the saints" describes all those, living and dead, who are followers of Christ. And there are "communions" of believers - groups of Christians who share a set of common doctrines and rituals.

The Anglican Communion is one example of the last of those. It is a worldwide federation, loosely joined, of churches who trace their roots to the Church of England.

Because its membership is joined not by a central government or pope but by commonality of belief, it has been susceptible to periodic crises of companionship as disagreements have arisen over points of doctrine.

For instance, during the last half of the 20th century, the churches were sharply divided over the question of women's ordination.

It wasn't until 1976 that the Episcopal Church (USA) formally approved the ordination of women as priests and bishops. That position has still not been accepted as valid by some of the 38 provinces that make up the Anglican Communion.

However, as a communion report issued last week pointed out, the churches held enough other beliefs in common that the refusal of some of them to recognize female bishops "represented a degree of impairment which the Communion could bear."

Today's question is whether the same can be said of this most recent dispute, which is focused on questions of how the church is to relate to its homosexual members and priests.

The report on the current rift seems to place its hope in reconciliation largely on voluntary compliance with its plea for time - to let the fire burn out, or to reveal an extinguisher that isn't evident now.

It calls for a moratorium on same-sex unions and ordinations of bishops living in same-sex partnerships - the precipitating causes of the current crisis - and for a cessation of foreign bishops, mostly from Africa, extending their oversight into North American dioceses without the permission of the local bishop.

Perhaps the call for time was the only route the study commission could have taken since it had no authority to "punish" an offending church, diocese or bishop. It could only recommend that those involved apologize for giving offense, ask that they voluntarily cease and desist from further offensive actions, and hold out hope "for healing and restoration."

While some of the language of the report may encourage such hope - including its call for the development of an Anglican Covenant that would further define the autonomous churches' relationships and responsibilities - it is hard to escape the note of pessimism in the report's final paragraph:

"There remains a very real danger that we will not choose to walk together."

Time may indeed reveal a way out of schism in the communion, but, frankly, it's well nigh impossible to imagine.

Some compromises undoubtedly will work out, but as things stand now, the Episcopal Church (USA) simply is not going to reverse itself and enact a ban on same-sex union ceremonies, nor will it interfere with diocesan autonomy in choosing a bishop.

And the African and other bishops who have extended their oversight to dissatisfied parishes here almost certainly will continue to do so, even without local bishops' permission.

That leaves the very real prospect of "a degree of impairment which the Communion could not bear" and the prospect that, in the report's words, "we shall have to begin to learn to walk apart."